From AudioFile
With amazing vividness, Nina Foch essays Henry James's earliest (1881) and perhaps most accessible masterpiece. A penniless American girl is brought to Europe where her beauty, ingenuousness, and naïveté attract a variety of suitors. In spite of wanting to do everything right, everything comes out wrong in this perceptive, subtle, and multilayered psychological novel, which Foch plays like a musical instrument. A rather loud one -- she hits all the notes correctly but coarsely. The effect is like a bordello pianist--albeit one with nimble fingers--playing Chopin on an old upright. A maladroit abridgment causes occasional confusion. Lackadaisical engineering adds stridency and calls attention to edits. Y.R. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
Review
?The Portrait of a Lady is entirely successful in giving one the sense of having met somebody far too radiantly good for this world.??Rebecca West
Portrait of a Lady FROM OUR EDITORS
Isabel Archer is one of the greatest heroines in all literature -- an American heiress just arrived in Europe, high-spirited, independent, and faced with a tragic choice. The novel considered by many critics to be James's greatest literary achievement.
ANNOTATION
Young Phillip Pirrip's life is shaped by an act of kindness which raises him from poverty to wealth. One of the greatest works of classic literature, this novel is a timeless tale of love, hope and humanity. (Digest)
FROM THE PUBLISHER
When Isabel Archer, a young American woman with looks, wit, and imagination, arrives in Europe, she sees the world as 'a place of brightness, of free expression, of irresistible action'. She turns aside from suitors who offer her their wealth and devotion to follow her own path. But that way leads to disillusionment and a future as constricted as 'a dark narrow alley with a dead wall at the end'. In a conclusion that is one of the most moving in modern fiction, Isabel makes her final choice.
FROM THE CRITICS
AudioFile
With amazing vividness, Nina Foch essays Henry James's earliest (1881) and perhaps most accessible masterpiece. A penniless American girl is brought to Europe where her beauty, ingenuousness, and naᄑvetᄑ attract a variety of suitors. In spite of wanting to do everything right, everything comes out wrong in this perceptive, subtle, and multilayered psychological novel, which Foch plays like a musical instrument. A rather loud one she hits all the notes correctly but coarsely. The effect is like a bordello pianistalbeit one with nimble fingersplaying Chopin on an old upright. A maladroit abridgment causes occasional confusion. Lackadaisical engineering adds stridency and calls attention to edits. Y.R. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine
AudioFile - Robert I. Grundfest
Classic books make you realize why you listen to audiobooks in the first place; they're interesting, have great characters and are well crafted. Laural Merlington's narration of this classic starts off unevenly, but she finds a rhythm around tape two and takes off from there. She has a sweet voice, which she uses to create diverse characters, especially that of Isabel Archer, the book's protagonist. Merlington gives Isabel a voice that ranges from obsequious to forceful; this range allows us to become more involved in her plight. R.I.G. ᄑ AudioFile, Portland, Maine